“It’s offered a mirror to check how we’re doing,” Caspian Films on Investment Readiness and giving female auteurs a voice
//
Sometimes, easy access to creativity can convince people they know everything there is to know about their chosen field of expertise. Holding your hands up and admitting that there may be elements of your skillset that need a bit of a tune-up requires humility and hard work. However, as Other Brother Studios founder Matthew Lawes-Wickwar learned during his time working with Creative Enterprise, putting in the effort can pay off in spades.
“I’ve been doing this particular business for about eight years,” says Lawes-Wickwar of Other Brother Studios, the company he runs alongside his Suffolk-based post-production house Post Folk. “However, even at this stage, there are still so many things you often don’t get right. There’s always room for improvement,” he reasons. “After a few weeks [working alongside the Creative Enterprise Foundations cohort], you realise this is a shared thing amongst most people that run companies. There are all things we can refine.”
In addition to Other Brother Studios and Post Folk, Lawes-Wickwar also runs a charity called the Emerging Voices Film Foundation which gives filmmakers from under-represented backgrounds cash and support to create their own short films. As someone who’s “passionate about amplifying other people’s voices,” this Suffolk-based founder applied to our Creative Enterprise scheme to help amplify his own output. Now, he has a horror-based feature film in active development with the BFI, something he was able to fast-track thanks to the lessons he learned from working with a business mentor.
“The first thing I applied for was the business planning grant,” says Lawes-Wickwar of crossing paths with the range of business support offered by Creative Enterprise. “The thing that really appealed to me was that there was a list of mentors you could approach directly before you submitted your application – and I really liked the mentors that were on offer. It felt like a transparent process because [Creative UK] were showing you who you could work with before you actually got the grant.”
Through his application process, Lawes-Wickwar met business mentor Angus Finney and the pair struck up an immediate rapport. “Not only did I feel like I’d get a lot out of his mentorship but Angus also looked at my application before I sent it in so it wasn’t just me submitting it, it was Angus as well.” As Lawes-Wickwar knows too well, gaining access to this kind of tailored support isn’t easy to acquire, especially without the help of an intermediary. “Generally speaking, getting a mentor is tricky unless you go through one of these schemes,” he says. “It’s important too because you’re looking for someone with a wealth of experience beyond yours.”
Working with Finney, Lawes-Wickwar was able to quickly identify the gaps in his current skillset and learn how to fill them in the best ways possible. “Angus was incredibly helpful,” he says. “I didn’t go to film school and I don’t have formal training in film – and that was something Angus picked up on straight away. He asked me to submit a draft slate to him and I had no idea what it was so he identified that I needed some training,” recalls Lawes-Wickwar. “He gave me a list of books that were really useful and guided me through the whole process. He also tried to really understand my company, what I wanted and how to get to where I am now.”
As part of his mentorship, Finney helped Lawes-Wickwar join our Creative Enterprise Foundations cohort, providing early-stage screen-based businesses with intensive growth support. “That crash course in film and TV really helped,” he says. Meanwhile, Finney’s willingness to introduce him to key industry people became an invaluable asset. “He had the confidence to introduce me to people because he saw that I was willing to work hard,” says Lawes-Wickwar. “Everything he taught me has paid dividends.”
In addition to solidifying his skills as a creative founder, Lawes-Wickwar believes that his time working with Finney and Creative Enterprise has helped him reach his professional goals faster than he would’ve done alone. “Simply put, it’s transformed the company,” he smiles. “Before working with Creative UK, I wanted to work in feature film but it felt like something that was very far away and I wasn’t sure how to get there. Once I had gained new skills through mentorship and the Foundations course, it’s led to a situation where I’ve just finished a feature film and I have another one in development with the BFI. To be completely honest, that was something I thought was many years off,” he admits. “It’s definitely changed the business for the better.”
Find out more about Creative Enterprise Foundations and Business Builder.
Words and interview by Simon Bland
